Social Media Posts Make Millennials, Gen Z Feel Broke: Survey

Although social media users may not believe that they are posting with this sort of agenda, 62% said people they follow on social media sometimes post things to make themselves look successful in the eyes of others. Younger social media users were more likely to think this than older ones.

As to what those who post on social media hope their posts will portray, 53% said their values, 47% authenticity, 40% happiness and 38% intelligence.

Only 16% of social media posters hope their posts portray attractiveness, while 10% said wealth/success, including 22% of Gen Zers and 14% of millennials. Eleven percent could not say what they hope their posts will portray.

Social media is also affecting spending habits, according to the survey. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z and 57% of millennials social media users said they had made an impulse purchase of a product they saw on social media, compared with 45% of Gen Xers and 38% of boomers. In addition, more female than male users said they had made an impulse purchase.

The outcome of these purchases was generally negative, according to respondents: 68% of female social media users who have made an impulse purchase of something they saw on social media have regretted at least one purchase, versus 58% of men.

"Social media is essentially the new roadside billboard, only it accomplishes the goal of traditional advertising in a much savvier way," Foster said. "It decorates seemingly normal, everyday people in the most sought-after vacations, outfits or products."

But the survey shows that those purchases, especially impulsive ones, can do harm to social media users' finances rather than benefit their lives in the way they thought it would, she said.